Podcast Week: Wellness Collective, Denton’s Top 5, Luminary, ACast

The Wellness Collective: PodcastOne’s prolific duo

Two busy podcasters have been covering all things health for women who are keen to understand their bodies, their wellbeing and their hormones on a whole new level.

PodcastOne podcasters Nat Kringoudis, a best-selling author and natural women’s health expert and her long time radio host and now podcast co-host Cecelia Ramsdale love to go to the topics that nobody else talks about and discuss them with leading experts from around the globe to help their growing audience feel happier, healthier and better.

Ramsdale met Kringoudis in 2016 after Kringoudis put out a call on her social media for a podcast partner. “I had no idea who she was, but a friend told me to apply because I had radio experience and it sounded like fun,” Ramsdale told Mediaweek.

“I sent a video in answering the questions she asked and I got a call saying she had chosen me. From the first time we met we hit it off. We soon started making podcasts about fertility and health related issues for women. We used to work with Labsonics before we got the chance to work with PodcastOne.”

The duo had about 20 podcasts recorded before the move to PodcastOne where they have recorded another 50 in 18 months.

Ramsdale has a background in radio, formerly working with Fox and Triple M in Melbourne. “I hosted the Australian Music Show on Sunday nights and also worked on Tony Martin’s Get This.” Ramsdale learnt to panel with another radio and PodcastOne legend – Andy Lee. She no longer works for SCA, but has built a career as a voiceover artist.

The prolific podcast partners pump out lots of content, with a new episode dropping every week this year.

Plans for the future include a live podcast. Subjects that resonate best with their audience include how to be happier and how to have better relationships.

Ramsdale told MediaweekLola Berry has been a popular guest in the past and recent subjects have included financial wellness.

“The thing I love most about this podcast is the scope is endless. It started off being about hormones and fertility, but we now cover everybody with information about how to be healthier, happier and better.”

Acast makes its first acquisition – technology company Pippa

This is the first acquisition for podcast platform Acast and it claims the move will significantly expand its offering for a wider range of podcasters. Pippa is a technology company offering hosting, analytics, and monetization for podcasters.

Acast said Pippa will bring it a consumer-facing offering that will enable any podcaster to sign up to host their show with just one click, whilst also having the ability to make money from their podcast from day one through Acast’s monetisation tools.

Ross Adams, Acast CEO, said: “This acquisition meaningfully accelerates our growth and will move Acast forward in our mission to empower podcasters of every size and help them connect with audiences around the world. We were extremely impressed by what the Pippa team has built and we’re excited to pour fuel on the flames now that Pippa is part of the Acast team.”

Combined with Pippa, Acast said it will now have more than 7,000 shows covering the full range of podcasters from publishers including BBC, Financial Times, Economist and Vogue.

Luminary launch week sees big names withdrawing

The Joe Rogan Experience, one of the world’s most popular podcasts, has requested to be removed from Luminary, the new $8-a-month premium podcast platform, which launched in the US this week.

Rogan joined a number of other podcasts who found their content turning up on the Luminary platform this week. Other people withdrawing included podcasts from The New York Times and Spotify.

Mark Zuckerberg dives into podcast pool

With the first two episodes launched this week, Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has launched a podcast.

Available only via Spotify, the Tech & Society podcast is promising a series of conversations on the future of technology and society. Zuckerberg and his guests take on the biggest questions about tech’s place in the world – along with the opportunities, challenges, hopes, and anxieties that come with it.

Zuckerberg launches the series with Harvard Law Professor Jonathan Zittrain at Zuckerberg’s alma mater. They cover everything from encryption and privacy to misinformation and future research areas, all in front of a special audience – Zittrain’s students.

Zuckerberg then sits down with Mathias Döpfner – the CEO of the largest news publisher in Europe, Axel Springer – in Berlin. They answer questions like: What role does quality journalism play in building informed communities? What principles should Facebook use for building a dedicated area to surface more high quality news? They also talk about the privacy-focused vision Zuckerberg laid out for the future of social networking and his ideas for internet regulation.